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DEM myopic, not short-staffed
7/15/2012
DISASTER Emergency Management should not be short-staffed while the Barbados Defence Force is duly equipped to perform its allotted task of prevention and protection for the civilian population from dangers both natural and man-made that are beyond the capabilities of the Fire Service and Royal Barbados Police Force.
Bureaucracy is an added hazard to any disaster which requires prompt, intelligent and instinctive action from preparedness which only special training provides. Delay in bureaucratic administrative deliberation is as dangerous as misdirection of response.
The Barbados Defence Force has no higher priority in its training than to provide in its deployment throughout the country the service for which candidates are recruited at public expense with legitimate expectations. The intervention of a civilian bureaucratic administration is superfluous. Trained “volunteer reserves” accountable to the command of the BDF is acceptable as a supplement.
Central and immediate command of Emergency Management is imperative.
The military discipline of the BDF is essential reinforcement of necessary practical training as artisans in communications, paramedicine, building construction, public utilities installation, and maintenance associated with Signals, Medical and Engineering Corps of an army fully occupied.
It is with such a service that the Regional Security System should be engaged with less emphasis on combat camouflage for jungle warfare and the hysteria not the safety of US borders from contraband and their homeland security, and more attention to blue fatigues for work of the realities of our situation.
Direct action for which reliance should be placed on the BDF should eliminate the obstruction inherent in the bureaucracy of the DEM And realise greater economy in the efficient deployment of scarce resources.
Briefly: The need is for the restoration of Local Government Councils representative of property owners and residents of defined COMMUNITIES in closer direct communication with recognised authorities capable of remedial action for reported problems; and the establishment of a resource for rapid response to emergencies with positive action. That would make the DEM redundant.
– LEONARD ST. HILL
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